A Linguaphile’s Perspective on Communication
A linguaphile describes people that, according to the dictionary definition, “are multilingual because of their love for learning languages”. I speak 6 languages over varying levels of fluency throughout the years including Korean, Spanish, English, Japanese, Chinese (Mandarin) and Russian.
Languages have always been a passion of mine ever since I learned how much access to knowledge, through communicating with people or through resources online/books, that it could provide. I always highly encourage anyone to pick up another language, especially as we all continue into the future of work and things become more virtual, interconnected, and global.
Besides learning the language itself, there are other benefits to knowing foreign languages that help improve communication skills in all aspects of life. Here are a few key things I’ve picked up on my own language journey:
Words and word choice matter - When you l earn a language, you learn there are a lot of nuances to what someone wants to say based on word choice. For example, if you look at the Russian language, there are over 100 words for snow/snow related things (e.g., snowflake, blizzards/snow storms, etc.) depending on the way you categorize things. In Korean, we have different levels of expressing dislike based on the verb. It can make the difference between casually disliking something, to a much more visceral anger, all the way down to a resentment or anger that also indicates sorrow. In English, all of these words in Russian and Korean might be translated the same as snow or hate respectively. Really learning these languages and living in these countries taught me to listen for words and the words used more carefully. Is the joke really funny? What are the origins or etymology of the word? Does the joke translate to the other person’s worldview?
Language and culture go together - Language reflects a lot of culture, and it is inevitable that you will learn some history along the journey. If there are a hundred words for snow or something else in a language, there is probably some significance of that historically. In some languages like Japanese and Korean, we have structured levels of formality that dictates the way we conjugate verbs or use pronouns. Many languages also have dialects or different local languages in a given region that also speak to deep historical events. There are reasons for all of these things that anyone can start to unearth even from the simple act of searching online for the definition of a word. After I learned these languages, I found myself better able to speak with people from a place of cultural understanding that I did not have before. Does it mean a lot to you if someone speaks your language and understands your cultural norms for things like business, playing sports, etc.?
Humility is key - It’s inevitable you will make mistakes or be in some awkward situations, especially in the beginning. That’s natural. I learned a lot about not being afraid to ask questions, overcoming embarrassing situations, or learning through awkward cultural failures along this journey. I’ve done everything from accidentally asking about someone’s horse instead of their mother (ma3 versus ma1 in Mandarin Chinese) to thinking embarazada meant embarrassed (it really means pregnant) in Spanish. It definitely makes you a more resilient person - that’s for sure! But through this all, everyone finds a shared humility at the recognition of how confusing these things can be. And at the end, we become better for it.
Language learning is something everyone can do, and nowadays there are many resources out there to even do some of this on the go. As our world becomes more connected, communication becomes even more important. I highly recommend picking up another language and getting to know another culture and improving your interpersonal skills at the same time.
